Geographic Variation in the Cumulative Risk of Imprisonment and Parental Imprisonment in the United States

Abstract

This article reports estimates of the cumulative risk of imprisonment and parental imprisonment for demographic groups in four regions and four states. Regional and state-level cumulative risks were markedly higher for African Americans and Latinos than for whites. African Americans faced the highest cumulative risks of imprisonment in the Midwest, Northeast, and two southern states. Latinos were most likely to serve time in state prison in the West, where their cumulative risk was comparable to that of African Americans. Latino children had a relatively high risk of having a parent imprisoned in the Northeast as well. Racial disparities in the cumulative risk of imprisonment and parental imprisonment did not increase linearly with increases in the cumulative risk for all groups.

Keywords

Notes

Acknowledgments

We thank Daniel Lichter, William Sabol, and Bruce Western for excellent comments.

Appendix

Table 3

Cumulative risk of imprisonment in a state institution

Adults

Men

Sampling Region

Total

White

Black

Latino

Total

White

Black

Latino

Midwest

5.9

3.4

18.8

8.2

10.4

6.0

35.1

13.7

South

6.4

3.2

13.8

7.5

11.1

5.4

26.1

12.2

Florida

6.7

3.0

17.5

3.4

11.3

4.7

31.1

6.3

Texas

8.2

2.7

18.1

9.7

12.7

3.7

27.2

16.8

West

6.9

3.6

13.9

14.0

11.4

5.7

21.0

24.0

California

5.7

2.1

14.1

7.2

9.7

3.5

23.8

12.1

Northeast

4.3

1.8

15.1

9.2

8.1

3.3

28.5

16.0

New York

4.7

1.4

9.9

8.2

8.6

2.5

18.8

15.0

Notes: Region- and state-level cumulative risk of imprisonment in a state institution for all adults, whites, African Americans, Latinos, men, white men, African American men, and Latino men. Regions and states reflect inmates’ region and state of offense. The eight sampling units in the Survey of Inmates in State and Federal Correctional Facilities are New York, Florida, Texas, California, the Northeast (except New York), the Midwest, the South (except Florida and Texas), and the West (except California).

Sources: Bureau of Justice Statistics, CDC Wonder.

Table 4

Cumulative risk of parental or paternal imprisonment in a state institution

Parental

Paternal

Sampling Region

Total

White

Black

Latino

Total

White

Black

Latino

Midwest

7.1

3.9

19.7

9.3

6.4

3.3

18.1

8.9

South

7.8

4.0

15.1

7.7

6.7

3.4

13.6

6.5

Florida

7.6

2.7

18.7

3.8

6.0

1.7

15.3

3.5

Texas

8.6

2.1

21.0

8.9

6.4

1.2

15.4

7.5

West

7.1

3.5

9.9

11.5

5.7

2.6

7.6

9.9

California

6.5

1.9

13.1

8.0

5.6

1.6

10.6

7.1

Northeast

5.4

1.7

18.3

11.4

4.9

1.4

16.9

10.0

New York

4.6

1.0

10.7

5.3

4.2

0.9

9.5

5.2

Notes: Region- and state-level cumulative risk of parental and paternal imprisonment in a state institution for all children, white children, African American children, and Latino children. Regions and states reflect inmates’ region and state of offense. The eight sampling units in the Survey of Inmates in State and Federal Correctional Facilities are New York, Florida, Texas, California, the Northeast (except New York), the Midwest, the South (except Florida and Texas), and the West (except California).

Sources: Bureau of Justice Statistics, CDC Wonder.

References

Barker, V. (2006). The politics of punishing: Building a state governance theory of American imprisonment variation. Punishment & Society, 8, 5–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar